1. Field of the Invention
The present invention concerns a toy train box car having an operating mechanism for opening a door and unloading cargo. A sliding door is opened to permit discharge of items received from an internal cargo bin onto a handcart which is rotated out of the door and offloaded onto an external ramp. The handcart is returned and the door is closed to prepare for a repeat of the cycle to unload additional cargo items.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Previous devices for simulating a train car having the capability for opening a door and having a mechanism extending from the door to retrieve or deliver an item such as a mailbag include U.S. Pat. No. 2,260,460 to Klingebiel which utilizes springs and solenoids to control a bag catcher.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,634,551 to Smith relates to a toy train car storing round objects for delivery onto an unloading platform. An electromagnetic mechanism releases one article at a time onto a hand truck which shifts from the inside of the car to an edge. The hand truck has a moveable wall which is released when passing beyond the car edge so that the article rolls away from the car down the wall onto the unloading platform. Upon deenergization of the magnet, a spring returns the truck with the wall elevated into the car for release of the next item.
U.S. Pat. No. 2,813,648 to Pettit shows a toy train car which carries toy barrels to be discharged by a remote control device. A longitudinally sloping electromagnetically operated vibratory ramp shifts the barrels for ejection onto the ramp. A lockable cam controls the release of one barrel at a time.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,214,864 to Herman illustrates a toy figure on a train car simulating a baggage man moving a loaded hand truck out to a platform alongside the car. A ramp moves from an upright position when the figure is inside the car to a horizontal position when the figure and hand truck are outside the car. A solenoid, plunger and crank mechanism control movement of the figure and hand truck.
While these prior art devices show various mechanisms for simulating the unloading of cargo items from a toy train car onto an external ramp, none of these utilize a motor and gear drive to operate a sliding door of a toy box car or an internal cargo bin to discharge items onto a hand cart which is rotated out of the door with an ejector arm to off load the cargo onto the ramp. There also is no other device which returns the hand cart while closing the door to receive other items from the bin for another loading cycle.
It is therefore the primary object of the present invention to provide a novel mechanism for simulating the unloading of cargo items from a toy train box car.
It is another object of the invention to provide a unique mechanism for opening and closing a sliding door of a toy train box car.
It is a further object of the invention to provide an internal cargo bin which stores items to be loaded onto a hand cart.
It is an additional object of the invention to provide a mechanism for loading the cargo items onto the hand cart.
Yet another object is to provide a mechanism for moving the hand cart out onto the loading ramp.
It is also an object of the invention to provide a mechanism for ejecting a cargo item from the hand cart onto the loading ramp.
A still further object is to provide a return mechanism for the hand cart upon closing of the door to receive another cargo item for the next unloading cycle.
An additional object is to provide a device for generating a cold mist to simulate unloading of cargo from a refrigerated box car upon opening of the car door.
These objects are achieved with a unique system including a push button control activating a microswitch and motor gear drive mechanism which moves a shuttle structure to open a sliding door and initiate transfer of cargo items from a storage bin for loading onto a hand cart. The shuttle drives a rack and pinion to move the hand cart out of the door and an ejector arm off loads the cargo item onto the external loading ramp. The cold mist generator operates in synchronism with the door opening for simulating cargo unloading from a refrigerated box car. The hand cart is returned into the car for receipt of another cargo item when the door is closed until activation of another operating cycle. Other objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.